Return to Article: Immigration, customs agency may be headed for hiring spree
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20192
Maybe ICE should entertain the idea of separating immigration and customs SAs. CBP has already realized that the two don't mix. CBP established a new "admissibility officer" position for just that reason. Then everyone can specialize in an area they are best at. I, for one, would gladly work immigration cases as an ICE special agent. Like I pointed out earlier, alien smuggling is organized crime at its best.
Brushout,
PA in S. Texas -
19875
The feller who keeps complaining about the "other" guys that have too much time on their hands amuses me. Also, FYI it's the USAO that decides the threshold for prosecutions, not the SA.
I agree with the rosy guy about the concept of hiring more IEAs. SAs should never be processing aliens. I will never understand the idea of having SAs doing IEA work. Why not have the IT people classified as SAs too?
I disagree with the rosy guy about SAs leaving. I know of several who have left and I work in a small office.
I am curious about why the rosy guy believes that a merger with CBP would weaken ICE even more. I agree that BP is becoming the 500-pound gorilla -- there is a new proposed addendum to the ICE/BP MOU.
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19809
Deportation Officer:
I'm so glad you took time out of your "busy" work schedule to answer some of the points many of us have raised in this forum. Obviously, you don't work in my city, because when I call DRO, the phone rings endlessly, and nobody ever picks up. If I was mistaken about the green cards, sue me. Considering the brevity and low quality of the INS cross training we received, it's no wonder I got it wrong.
I was proud to be a Customs agent for more than 20 years, and even prouder to be part of the oldest federal law enforcement agency, until its untimely demise. I survived the 9/11 attacks which destroyed my office in New York, only to find insult added to injury with the truly stupid merger with INS investigators into ICE (no offense to the INS agents, most of whom are good workers. In fact, we at Customs welcomed many of them to our agency over the years). Face it, the two jobs are vastly different, and nothing you or anyone in Washington can say will convince us otherwise. The real victims of this asinine idea are the American people, who think that DHS and ICE are fighting terrorism, when the opposite is true! Don't try to judge me until you have walked in my shoes. Nothing has changed for you, so how dare you criticize us for when we bring up valid disagreements with how things currently are, and offer equally valid suggestions for improving matters? The bottom line is -- if I had wanted to do immigration work I would have joined INS. I don't, and I didn't! Just because some bureaucrats and politicians waved their magic wands to create this mess, doesn't make it right.
By the way, I am not typing this in the office, but at home, so spare me that tired old complaint when and if you respond to this post.
Have a nice day, and enjoy the Kool Aid.
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19787
For those like me who are truly busy, it takes time to reply to these postings.
To DHS ICE: As to the statement that INS sent green cards to a couple of hijackers, I can only gather that your legacy INS counterparts have not trained you well. Those hijackers never qualified for green cards as you stated. An adjudications (now called CIS) contractor with no access to TECS mailed these hijackers their replies to their application for an extension on their visas. CIS just like DOS is a major culprit in the illegal immigration debacle for reasons extremely clear to those like me doing immigration work.
One thing that is clear to me and to any legacy INS officer, agent, inspector and such is that legacy Customs SAs are not making any friends, are not gaining any sympathy and are not furthering their causes. Your lobbying, whether it is with Congress or through FLEOA has failed miserably. You guys are stuck with this situation, whether you like it or not, and no amount of agency bashing or whining will turn back the hands of time.
Another thing, DRO taking more administrative functions doesn't mean the end of administrative cases for SAs. You must view a DO in the same context you view a probation officer. We oversee these cases from their inception, through the different facets of the immigration proceeding and up until the alien is either removed or granted a benefit. Those are and will still be the historic duties of a DO with little or no time to make apprehensions besides those being made by our fugitive teams.
To clarify things to that legacy INS - Customs hybrid with no name. I completely understood what type of cases a U.S. Attorney would take. I did criminal prosecutions myself with INS and then CBP. I know for a fact that our legacy INS SAs never responded to the POEs and that's why INS Inspections handled its own cases and I do know my cases were not accepted by L-Customs SAs simply because they didn't see them in the same context as I did and because they rather complain about not getting cases from CBP than taking them.
Perhaps you've all gotten to the point that you've complained so much that even if you have a good thing going you won't see it because you're bent on being miserable.
Now, back to work.
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19719
Based on this article, and all of the posts to date, I believe this article summarizes the micro and macro problems confronting ICE and DHS as a whole:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/Issues/2006-11-16/news/feature.html
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19573
First off, I would like to start with this. I have no idea why the Customs Service was caught up in this mess. They were not the problem. The USCS could have remained a separate entity within the DHS. The problem was and over the last 20 years, always been the INS. They were constantly cramming the customer service crap down the throats of enforcement. To make maters worse, they would make the enforcers go out of their way to write cases in a manner that would allow their customers to stay. Remember Atta was identified as an overstay on his last return trip to Miami. A II was going to deny him entry and a supervisor instructed the II to allow him to pass. Most all of the terrorists were either overstays or out of status. It was like having the cops working for the defense attorneys.
And let's not start with the "you guys don't work crap." As a USBP Agent, for the last 10 years, I could never get an INS CI to take a case. Ever. After ICE has taken over we are prosecuting cases that would have never been allowed by INS. It is a shame that we have to turn over our dope cases to the DEA, when we have a perfectly good investigative team within the DHS. The only dope cases DEA allows our ICE CIs to take are those involving illegal aliens.
Now, with that said. ICE is here to stay, we will never go back. Get over it. But on the bright side of things. Alien smuggling is criminal organization at its best. In our area it involves, rape, murder, extortion, money laundering and much more. The Italian Mafia has nothing on these fools that smuggle aliens.
Placing the IEAs under DRO is probably the best move that ICE has done in a long time.
Brushout
PA in South Texas -
19540
No matter what anyone thinks about these midterm elections, there certainly is some good news from one state. Asa Hutchinson, the former DHS undersecretary of the then-useless and since-abolished Border and Transportation Security Directorate, and well-known idiot when it comes to knowing anything about the differences between DHS legacy component agencies, had his rear-end thoroughly handed to him in his pathetic bid for governor of Arkansas. It couldn't have happened to a bigger DHS piece of trash. Although DHS and its legacy components are tremendously and permanently damaged thanks to people like Hutchinson, at least the same thing has now happened to his career as it did to those many within DHS. I guess it sometimes is true - what goes around comes around. Now perhaps Hutchinson can pursue the one job he deserves and is rightfully qualified for - being a janitor in a remote FBI office.
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19509
As a legacy Customs special agent here, I need to add my comments. I'm happy to do the job that I do. I wish we would have been doing it a long time ago. If we had, there may have been a police officer, deputy sheriff and state trooper, all fathers, going home to their families. You see, we lost them over the last six years here in Washington state -- all killed by an illegal alien who had some kind of contact with our agency.
"It is what it is" -- A quote supervisors (DSACs) use in an attempt to give reason as to the "why." FYI, just tell us the truth. Don't lie to those who are trained to see the lies. D&R are hiring agents away from OI, and it's not just legacy INS agents, and agents are moving to other agencies, just ask Seattle. Why? Because management doesn't care, and when it's too late, they act as though they do.
For all those who haven't been able to exercise that great knowledge you received in "complex investigations," get ready. Oct. 1, 2007 will be your great day, no more excuses, DRO will have taken over. Oh but wait, have you looked into worksite enforcement, we do that now. Money laundering, smuggling, fraud, tax evasion, T-III, search warrants it's all in there. You just may have to work with people instead of a pair of fake Nikes.
When it's all said and done, we still receive the attendance award every other week and we like to feel good about the work we did whether it be arresting an EWI, pedophile, drug dealer or counterfeit shoe.
Unlike others, we go home at night.
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19504
To the DO, I agree with most of your post except one thing mainly -- the "work ethic" comments. Try working in a busy airport response group or being assigned to work Title III after Title III after Title III in an office that only cares about more Title IIIs. Then come back and we'll talk about work.
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19482
In response to "Deportation Officer-DHS," using your logic from the first paragraph in your post, you obviously aren't working much and have too much free time on your hands. You're obviously upset that you couldn't get an 1811 job with Legacy INS or ICE.
I've worked for both sides prior to the merger so I can speak from experience.
Prior to the merger, legacy INS management realized that 1811s should not be spending majority of their time performing administrative investigations. That is why the 1801-Immigration Agent position was created -- so that the 1811's could concentrate on long term criminal investigations. I emphasize criminal because if you take the time to read the 1811 series position description a large portion of the time should be spent conducting criminal investigations. As far as the glory of sitting in a witness stand, you obviously never spent any time in one getting cross examined by a defense attorney for two days. As a matter of fact, you can check statistics, the majority of criminal cases do not even reach trial.
As far as taking your cases from CBP, did you ever stop to think that the agent didn't take it because the U.S. Attorney's Office in your district wouldn't prosecute it!! If it was an administrative matter, you had the authority under the INA to do the same thing any agent would have.
I'm not even getting into which Legacy agency worked harder prior to the merger. Each agency had its fair share of slackers including in DRO. Due to poor management, a lot of legacy INS agents were prevented from working long term criminal cases.
DRO should be tasked with all the administrative cases. It fits perfectly with the Deport Officer series (1801). It also frees the S/A's to conduct criminal investigations.
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19476
Deportation Officer:
I feel compelled to respond to your post, because it misrepresents what many of us have already said on this topic. No one disputes that you work hard, or that immigration is a thankless job. The difference is that you chose to work in this field. Customs agents signed up to work Customs cases. If we had wanted to work immigration, we would have joined the INS.
As far as 9/11 goes, most intelligent people realize that the FBI and the CIA dropped the ball big time, not the INS (although wasn't it the INS that sent green cards to a couple of the hijackers after the fact?). Considering that the Customs house at 6 World Trade Center in New York was destroyed in the attacks, it can be argued that Customs, which had nothing to do with 9/11, was the biggest federal victim, in that we not only lost our offices, but our identity as well, when we were merged with the INS, with no say in the matter whatsoever. Meanwhile, the FBI and CIA were rewarded with bigger budgets, more personnel, exclusive authority in terrorist investigations, etc.
I'll close by saying that Customs agents are not afraid to work, it's just that after 214 years of Customs experience, we see no good reason to be merged with INS, which is an entirely separate and complicated discipline itself!
Have a nice day.
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19469
I have been reading the numerous posts made exclusively by legacy Customs SAs and it is clear to me that you guys have plenty of time on your hands.
I don't believe that those arrested administratively cared that they are not being arrested criminally. When you deprive someone of his or her liberty, is inconsequential that they're being "detained" as opposed to "imprisoned." I've had administrative arrests that ended up in a couple of years of "administrative" detention and subsequent removal. What your kind actually misses is the "glory" that accompanies the criminal arrest. You want to sit in that witness stand and tell everyone how smart and qualified you are, which is something you can't do with an immigration case. There is no glory with administrative cases, just hard work and little or no thanks.
You complain about not getting cases from CBP, but when I worked for CBP you wouldn't take my cases because they wouldn't give you the "glory" you sought. You want to merge with CBP (the new Customs), but here is the skinny: CBP doesn't want you!!!! Why? Because the new Customs in its infinite arrogance doesn't want Customs refugees.
If I were a special agent working for another agency, I'd also want to join Customs in lieu of INS. Why, because working for INS entails something foreign to you, which is....you guessed it: work. Yes, I'd like to spend one year on a single investigation instead of breaking my back on hundreds of administrative cases.
By the way, it is just so lame to keep blaming INS for 9-11. I figured that with three years as a new Immigration Special Agent you would be able to see that the culprits are none other than the FBI, CIA and of course the State Department. INS used TECS (your system) at the POE, so if your glorious (and now defunct) agency knew about the imminence of 9-11, then as a super special agent that you were you should've done something about it. Last time I checked those hijackers also had to clear Customs formalities before being legally admitted into the United States.
By the way, Deportation Officers are too busy managing hundreds of cases, writing habeas, communicating with attorneys, contacting consulates, escorting criminal aliens back to their home country and yes, you guessed it, doing countless administrative cases to spend the time you spend on the Internet.
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19463
If anyone doubts that ICE has become the new INS, just look at the "Fact Sheet" on the ICE Web site that lists ICE "accomplishments" for fiscal 2006. They include (in order):
- Set new records for worksite enforcement
- Ended catch-and-release along the borders
- Set new record for alien removals
This goes on for seven pages, but you get the picture. Virtually all of these "accomplishments" are immigration-related, despite the claims of ICE managers that legacy Customs investigative areas are equally important. Well, they're not, and here's the proof!
ICE says it has "increased arms and strategic technology investigations," but when you only have a relatively small number of agents assigned to these investigations to begin with, doubling the number of personnel assigned will of course look good. If for example you have 50 agents assigned, and you add another 50, you have doubled the personnel. However, the number is still small, relative to the size of the agency, and the scope of the problem.
Don't just take my word for it, go see for yourselves. It's just appalling, and it is time for Congress, the media, and the public to start asking some hard questions.
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19461
Kyle:
Thank you for your thoughtful response to my post. Unfortunately, we now deal very little with the NYPD here, compared to the pre-ICE days, and most of today's interactions are over immigration matters, so as far as building a new reputation, it's going to be tough. I appreciate your candor, and respect your long service to our country. I'd also like to make the best out of a bad situation, but that is proving hard to do, given the lack of empathy, understanding, or leadership coming from much of this agency's management ranks (present company excepted, of course!). Although we may have to agree to disagree on certain issues, I know that we also have a lot in common, including the best interests of this great nation. I feel this way because I truly care, and am very disheartened because this merger took place without input from those who truly knew what was going on, and had a lot of good advice to offer, from experience.
Continued good luck to you and to all of our colleagues in the "Big Easy," and throughout ICE. Stay safe!
R.I.P.
U.S. Customs Service
1789-2003 -
19448
After reading the post after the New Orleans DSAC, I decided I had to respond. Oh, I agree with everything that post said!
First, to all my fellow ICE, CBP, DHS employees and their families, our continued wishes for a quick and total recovery down in the Big Easy.
Second, Mr. DSAC, sir, don't you or anyone else ever belittle the opinions of any ICE agent who witnessed first hand the death and destruction that resulted from the failures of the INS, FBI and CIA (9/11 Commission Report). We saw what their incompetence, "failure to connect the dots" and arrogance resulted in.
Here are a few questions:
1. Why are so many ICE personnel, including at least one SAC, several HQ and numerous agents, leaving this agency due to low morale (which I think the MID "morale interview" will bear out)?
2. Why did we give away valuable programs such as Green Quest (only to recreate it) and Air and Marine?
3. Are all of your agents comfortable with enforcing complex immigration laws and using INS programs? The ones I know are not, and we have also been advised to keep our liability insurance current, just in case.
4. When are the numerous GS-14 positions going to be filled and why are we giving another test when there is a perfectly good list available?
5. As the Homeland Security Department, why aren't we the lead on terrorist investigations, or why don't we at least have a more significant role?
6. When are we going back to the border to attach the threat where it starts?
I could go on and on. And no, I will not sign my name as right now I cannot sing ICE's praises and I worry about retribution. I am just going to sit back and wait for the effects of all those Ground Zero toxins to set in.
S/A ICE/New York
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19447
SSA/New York,
I'd much rather have this conversation in private, rather than in this forum, where everyone with access to the Internet can listen in. Not because I have anything to hide, but you and I have common experience and interests, and I could speak to you frankly, like I can't do here.
I was proud to be a U.S. Customs Special Agent, and I agree that we have "identity" issues to this day, but I'll also say that our work with the local law enforcement community down here in New Orleans has largely eliminated all the nonsense you are dealing with in New York. The NOPD knows who ICE is, and what we bring to the table. It's up to you guys in New York to build that "rep" that we used to have. It will come, if everyone pulls in the right direction.
As to your comment re: "nothing you or anyone in management can say will ever convince me that merging Customs and INS was necessary or wise, so please stop the propaganda." I have never, repeat never, said the merger was necessary or wise. In fact I think it was stupid. But it is what is brother, and I choose to make the best of it. Call me.
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19419
Well, Kyle, I don't know how things are working in your office, but in mine, when legacy INS agents get a duty call involving money laundering, strategic, IPR, or narcotics matters, they refer that call to the appropriate legacy Customs group for action. But when legacy Customs agents receive immigration-related duty calls, we are told not to refer it to legacy INS groups that work these cases, but to handle it ourselves. Looks like ICE integration is really just a one-way street, doesn't it? And yes, that does take time and effort away from our regular investigations.
I have personally had the experience of identifying myself to a local police lieutenant while seeking help on an investigation, and being told to "come back when you get a real badge." Even though he was making a joke at my expense, it just goes to show where this agency ranks in the law enforcement pecking order. Customs was well-known and respected, while INS (and now ICE) is not. A group supervisor from my office was assigned to the NYPD Command Center for the Republican National Convention, and was told by the NYPD that he didn't need to attend the daily law enforcement briefing, because it was only for law enforcement officers, and he was "just immigration." Add this to the reports of hurricane victims approaching ICE agents seeking "ICE" so their food wouldn't spoil, or the fact that "ICE" is a nickname for methamphetamine, and countless other stories, and you see why morale is at rock bottom. Even Rodney Dangerfield got more respect!
We realize that things aren't going back to the way they were, because no one has the guts to admit that the creation of ICE was a huge mistake. That doesn't mean that we all should be jumping for joy after being drafted into this mess. I'll do my job to the best of my ability, just as I have done for over 20 years. However, nothing that you or anyone else in management can say will ever convince me that merging Customs and INS was necessary or wise, so please stop the propaganda!
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19401
I continue to be amused by the "rock throwers" who aren't confident enough to identify themselves in their posts, in order to work toward some positive/constructive end. I guess "Rosy" and "Peachy" aren't bad. Someone said it, and I agree, that Customs was the place that everyone wanted to be. We aren't there now, but one day ICE will that "best agency to work for" place again, and you can quote me on that.
Look guys, at some point, you must accept that it is what it is. ICE won't be rejoining CBP -- DRO will probably always be a part of ICE. FPS may be moved, but that decision doesn't really affect the criminal investigators anyway. If you've paid attention during this merger, you would realize that ICE/OI merging back with CBP would put us in a weaker position than we are now, and would truly become Border Patrols, as they have essentially taken control there. They are the proverbial 500 pound Gorilla.
My question to you is, how many righteous "Customs" cases have you been told you couldn't work, post merger? I know we lost "interdiction" along the border via the MOU with BP, but for guys in the inland offices, are you being told you can't bring that strategic/financial/drug smuggling case to the table? Because of political pressure, we are being tasked with more immigration work, by HQS (Worksite/Critical Infra) but it hasn't kept us from pursuing traditional Customs cases at the same time.
This isn't idle speculation folks -- I can defend my comments with statistics and case numbers if you'd care to call me.
DRO takes over the administrative end of this job, Special Agents have more time and energy to investigate. Makes sense to me. As always, I encourage any of you to call me who would like to raise this discussion to a productive level. With all that we've been through in New Orleans over the past year and a half, I can still say, "Life is Good in the Big Easy." Come see us, and work safe people.
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19346
I have a feeling that "Special Agent" and I agree, and if my "rob Peter to pay Paul" analogy was unclear, then my apologies.
Actually, I didn't want to comment until I saw the post from our distinguished colleague in New Orleans about how rosy everything is and how he has missed the mass exodus, which I believe to be just a symptom of the apathy that exists in the upper levels of this agency.
Based on my observations, Special Agents from both agencies want to go out there and do something that makes a difference. Legacy Customs Special Agents have been doing criminal cases and I believe that legacy Immigration Special Agents would rather send someone to jail for a criminal offense, rather than put them through the administrative deportation process. I could go on and on.
But instead, all Special Agents have been saddled with the task of running out and responding to picking up illegal aliens, babysitting them until DRO opens (yes, they are a Monday to Friday operation). This is followed by doing reports in two computer systems (one which legacy Customs agents are totally unfamiliar with and have received training which could be called laughable), thus increasing the frustration and animosity between Customs and INS cultures.
Let DRO expand, but not at ICE OI expense!!! Then let DRO assume their responsibility of going out and picking up these aliens and detain and remove them and let us (all of us) get back to more meaningful criminal work.
Let's move forward in this agency! Let's fill the vast amount of management vacancies that exist nationwide (the 14 list has been out for months, what's the holdup?). Let's get back with CPB and attack the threats where they start, at the border!!!!
S/A ICE, New York
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19344
I, too respect your theory, and I can definitely relate to the response you usually get from DRO. However, current policy is that the only cases DRO will accept from OI are those involving child predators and those involving aliens who have already been processed for deportation. So there is nothing currently requiring DRO to respond to any other administrative situation.
I base my current arguments on the fact that it has apparently been decided that by the end of 2007, DRO will take control of all administrative referrals from state and locals regardless of what type of case it involves or whether or not an alien has already been processed. In light of this new hope, I don't want anyone to come up with any excuses for this transfer of administrative duties to not happen. That's why I want DRO to be able to hire more bodies -- so they can't make any excuses. DRO was already very large prior to the formation of ICE, and they did not have these requirements before. Any agency that inherits new duties will logically make the argument that they need more personnel.
I also definitely agree with you that OI is still hurting for equipment, such as all the "toys" DRO has. I am all in favor of more money for things like that, such as much needed new vehicles. I only fear that if OI goes on a hiring spree any time soon, someone will end up using that against us and the plan to transfer away our administrative duties will be abandoned. I'd rather wait until the deal is done to bring on more people.
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19324
To my friend SS/A ICE:
While I respect your theory, I think the flaw to the logic in your argument lies here:
DRO already has about 7,500 officers to do the work we speak about. They receive the largest amount of money in the ICE budget. They have all the pretty toys -- new facilities, prisoner vans, etc. to do their job. Do you know what kind of response I have gotten when I've called DRO out to assist in an administrative arrest? Zero, that's what! They don't answer the phones at my local SPC, say they're too busy to help or have some other excuse not to respond, so I get stuck doing the work that they are supposed to do, anyway. Now, we're going to reward them with 2,000 positions and $ 600 million dollars over ICE's OI budget for a job that they don't do now, and, at our expense!
No, my friend, I think you're being duped into believing that "robbing Peter to pay Paul" is the solution here, but it's not, because I think that, even if DRO got 2,000 more positions, we, as OI, would still be doing their work, as well as ours (if we could do it at all). Besides, you don't see the FBI giving up any of its 10,000 agents (and increasing, by the way) to help solve this issue, despite the fact that very few criminal terror cases have been brought to the table since 9/11, and that illegal immigration is a much more pressing issue at this point in time.
I'm sorry, but I think we are going to have to agree to disagree here; I guess only time will tell. That said, be well and stay safe!
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19311
Robbing Peter to pay Paul is a mistake!!! This just another example of the "ICE"berg cracking.
And if my distinguished colleague in New Orleans believes everything is so rosy, then why have at least five people in my office and at least two headquarters individuals left ICE for other federal agencies.
DRO should be expanded. In order to do this, Congress must provide more money. Since this is unlikely, I suggest the following.
Remove FPS from ICE and make it a stand-alone agency, as its function has nothing to do with Immigration or Customs Enforcement. In order to save on the administrative side, you could put them under Secret Service since their overall function is similar.
Second, remove DRO from ICE. Its function is to "detain" and "remove" criminal aliens and other "out of status" aliens. IEAs and DRO personnel should be running around picking up non-criminal aliens, not ICE 1811 Special Agents.
Third, put ICE and CBP back together and stop duplicating (and therefore wasting money) identical services. ICE is developing its own computer system, which is not compatible with CBP's. Why is this necessary? If the older, but quite functional, CBP system needs updating, let's get funding for an update instead of re-inventing the wheel.
Put CBP's and ICE's intelligence offices back together! There are two intelligence entities looking at the same threats. How wasteful is that??
And finally, someone has to propose some hard hitting and serious immigration reform to handle this out of control problem
Every time we think things are getting better, they stall or get worse. If you look at ICE Web site, you don't see any legacy Customs investigative areas (i.e. money laundering, contraband/narcotics smuggling). The new ICE promotional video looks like it should be a skit for SNL. As numerous people have pointed out, previous leadership gave away any authority for ICE to investigate terrorism, so please stop trying to fool the public.
Separate DRO from ICE and let's move forward. It's been five years since 9/11 and it seems like we are still tripping over ourselves.
S/A ICE New York
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19301
That's the point -- think about what we're asking for. The more agents OI demands and hires, the less likely we can justify transferring administrative work to DRO. Although there is theoretically enough investigative work to justify 5,000 agents, there are two points to consider: 1) We aren't talking about reducing numbers, here. We're simply talking about easing off hiring and allowing DRO to hire more for the sake of doing away with non-1811 duties. 2) Although we will in time expand our investigative work to the point we may need more agents, we won't instantly be able to dive into all kinds of new investigations the day we finally transfer away the administrative duties. It will take some time for OI to refocus, develop itself and reallocate all the resources freed up by transferring away the admin work before necessitating more bodies. Then we can go back and talk about increasing our numbers. Doing so before that day would be premature and would prioritize quantity above quality.
Although our mission before ICE included many areas, we conducted those investigations with 3,000 agents. Now we have 2,000 extra agents on top of that and we are looking to transfer away a very large percentage of the former duties of those extra 2,000 agents. If you want to surrender to the idea of being an "immigration only" agency, hiring more 1811s at this time at the expense of allowing DRO to hire more and absorb these duties from us, if anything, would put us on that track. Then all those extra promotions, money, and congressional clout would most likely be related to this non-criminal, administrative work. What good is that?
We don't need more warm bodies just for the sake of having them when we have yet to do away with a significant amount of administrative work. I'm most definitely thinking about what I'm asking for, and my priority is to get rid of this non-criminal work so that the quality of OI work increases. It is not on hiring extra bodies just to feel some false sense of comfort in how big we are. I think there is a mistake here in failing to realize that the stronger DRO becomes, the better OI will become by doing away with this non-criminal work. There are endless valid points to argue regarding bad decisions within ICE. This is not one of them.
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19300
I pose a question to any ICE manager who may read this: How many agents have left ICE since it opened for business three or so years ago? How many were legacy Customs and how many were legacy INS? Why did they leave? Was it for retirement, other opportunities, not happy being drafted into a new agency, or some other reasons? That would be a true measure of how things are going at ICE, morale-wise. Of course, I could see where DHS management would be nervous releasing this information, because it may tell quite a disturbing story to Congress, the media and the public, which don't really know what is happening here. Does management have the courage to put this information out, or will it just continue to ignore this issue?
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19299
Well, Kyle, glad to hear that things are just peachy in New Orleans. New York/Newark has lost more than 70 legacy Customs agents to other agencies or retirement since the "ICE Storm" began in 2003. FYI, most of those who retired were not mandatory, but chose to leave when they did. I've been on the job for more than 25 years, and never saw such an exodus before. The simple fact is that people were fed up and chose to go. Customs used to be the best agency to work for, and hundreds of agents came to it from the IRS, DEA, ATF, FBI and INS, while almost nobody left for another agency. Since the forced merger with INS into ICE, the opposite has been true. I'm glad you think things are swell, but many of us disagree with your rosy opinion!
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19272
To my colleague that thinks DRO should be expanded at OI's expense, think about what you're asking here.
Do you not think there is enough investigative work to justify 5,000 agents, because I sure do. Just think of our mission before immigration: drugs, money laundering, weapons trafficking, kiddie porn, etc. What is it now that we have the potential to conduct alien smuggling and other immigration-related criminal investigations?
Unless you are surrendering to the premise that, absent any other mission, we are now just immigration anyway (not a bad assumption, by the way), giving up a net gain of 1,500 GS-1811 positions is a very misguided idea. There would be fewer opportunities for promotion, less money in the annual budget, less clout in Congress, less of everything!!!
No, friend, there is more than enough investigative work out there to have 5,000 agents and 10,000 DRO officers. The problem is that Congress doesn't want to staff and fund OI at the levels it should be funded at, thus sacrificing investigations for glorified prison work (By the way, the fiscal 2007 budget is $ 1.4 billion for OI, and almost $ 2 billion for DRO; it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see where the priorities lie here).
Pathetic, shameful and disgraceful.
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19266
SS/A ICE "gets it." Contrary to popular belief, there is a plan, that will allow ICE/OI Special Agents to focus on criminal investigations, and this requires DRO to take over the administrative work load. We, ICE/OI will be stronger and more efficient, when our partners over at DRO have the people they need to accomplish their mission. As to quality agents "leaving in droves" for other agencies, I must say I'm not seeing it. In our SAC office I only know of one agent (GS) that left for a SAC job in an OIG shop. I hear the grumbling sometimes, but so far, it appears that our troops have faith that after some growing pains, ICE/OI will be the place to be. Time will tell I suppose.
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19237
I'm a legacy Customs 1811 and for once I agree with the decision for more hiring for DRO and less for OI. This will tick off some other ICE 1811's but hear me out.
One reason the INS was screwed up is its 1811's did more administrative than investigative work. If INS 1811's had gotten rid of this administrative work, they wouldn't have had enough criminal work to justify their workforce size. ICE now has more 1811's than the Customs and INS agencies combined. Although expertise went out the window with all our brethren who retired or left for better agencies, manpower is still up overall with new hires. And let's not forget that even if OI hires more 1811's they will almost exclusively be new and won't bring any significant experience to the table.
We are still tasked with all the administrative duties legacy INS 1811's were tasked with that screwed up their agency. Now ICE has apparently made an intelligent decision to transfer most of this administrative work from OI to DRO - something that should've happened years ago in the INS. (However, I will believe it when I see it. I also believe this was based less on the intelligence of ICE officials and more on their hand being forced because of the jeopardy this admin work places on our 1811 status.) Because this administrative work makes up a significant amount of OI work, when we transfer this to DRO we will free up significant manpower for criminal cases without hiring more agents. But in order for DRO to take administrative duties from OI, they need to bolster their staff.
Ask yourselves this: Do you want OI to continue performing all this administrative, non-criminal work that doesn't meet 1811 criteria, or would you rather focus mainly on criminal cases? If your preference is to work more criminal cases and less admin, which it logically should be, then you'd be crazy to not want DRO to hire more employees. The more they hire, the more admin work they can justify taking from OI. But the more OI hires, the less we can justify transferring away this admin work. For the sake of doing away with these non-1811 duties that never should have belonged to us or INS 1811s, I'm all in favor of DRO hiring as many as they can and allowing OI to slow down hiring.
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19227
The reason why 1811 Special Agents are leaving ICE in droves is due to the lack of respect from agency managers. Many experienced 1811s involuntarily merged into ICE from Customs and INS are demoralized, because after more than three years, ICE is still struggling to identify precisely what its mission is, while legacy Customs investigations have been given a lower priority than immigration work. Meanwhile, like vultures circling a dying carcass, other agencies (FBI, DEA, etc.) are picking up investigations Customs used to do, such as money laundering and strategic/export enforcement. The response from ICE management to agents who have legitimate complaints and suggestions for making things better, is "...we at ICE will not tolerate dissension [sic] among our personnel ...you either get onboard or move to another agency." Well, many agents are taking this advice, because ICE has become the new INS. Why doesn't Government Executive ask the public relations flacks at DHS how many agents have left ICE in the past three or so years? As one agent put it, ICE has become the Rodney Dangerfield of federal law enforcement, because it gets no respect. All ICE accomplished was to destroy an effective agency, and double the number of agents now available to do immigration work, at the expense of investigations formerly conducted by the U.S. Customs Service. Way to go, gang!
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19224
Let's see if I got this right: Detention and Removal Operations has 2,000 more positions for 1801s to do a job that's not getting done right now; removing aliens. Meanwhile, OI once again gets the big chorizo when it comes to additional manpower. From what little "intelligence" I can gather, it looks as if there won't be any OI positions opening in the future so, in the case of losing an SA through retirement, termination, or transfer to another agency, that position is gone -- not to be filled unless through a new hire fresh out of the Academy which isn't happening either.
Why not open some of these positions under OI and let the qualified FPS personnel apply? Am I missing something here? In the meantime, hundreds of deportable aliens remain in custody or get released on bonds because of space or legal considerations. The smart thing to do is ramp up the removal process, get them through the system, and, when the final order comes down, get them out of here no later than the next day. No more appeals, no more "Boo-hoo, can I have another chance?," no more pandering to the ACLU and the other left-wing entities whose sole purpose is to undermine the integrity of our agency and this nation.
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19215
While it is true that ICE is the largest investigative arm of DHS, OI Special Agents (GS-1811 series, not GS-1801) account for only 5,000 of the current 15,000 positions within ICE. Thus ICE, in its current configuration, is top heavy with positions that have absolutely nothing to do with investigations, and everything to do with what amounts to admin pick-ups/admin prison/admin deportation work. This is far from the "investigating and dismantling complex criminal enterprises" work that ICE is supposed to be doing.
Therefore, OI has effectively been relegated to second place and beyond in the hierarchy of ICE and DHS, generally - i.e., there are clearly things that are more important than investigations. Well, ICE Special Agents (GS-1811's, not 1801's) see that, too, and that is precisely why they are bailing out of OI in droves to go to other agencies that have a clear and compelling investigative mission, the job that these agents were hired to do in the first place.
Pathetic, shameful and disgraceful (I'm back!!!, but just for a special guest appearance. Glad to have rabble-roused y'all for the day; have a good one !!!).
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